Apple has been embroiled in a series of lawsuits over the past few months on account of its MacBook’s ‘sticky key’ issue and has even been offering free repair programs.
Apple has been embroiled in a series of lawsuits over the past few months on account of its MacBook’s ‘sticky key’ issue and has even been offering free repair programs. However, the tech giant may have silently resolved the issue in its new MacBook Pro keyboards. At least that’s what Gadget-repair site iFixit says so.
Silicone membrane to keep the dirt away The gadget-repair organization iFixit says that Apple has incorporated a silicone membrane beneath each key on the keyboard to prevent dirt and other small particles from getting inside the keyboard. To discover this, one new MacBook keyboard was analysed by iFixit.
An Apple patent called ‘Ingress Protection for Keyboards’ had earlier described a mechanism similar to what was seen after dismantling the keyboard. Ingress Protection is an industry term which means «keeps out dust and/or water». The patent describes the use of a ‘guard structure extending from the key cap’ which would be able to ‘funnel’ the unsavoury dust and other particles away from the keyboard. When not-in-a-pressed condition, this guard structure could be detached from the base. It would not touch the base even in a pressed condition on account of a gasket in between.
This gasket would be composed of a silicone layer which will be acting as a membrane to keep out the dirt from the sensitive mechanical portions of the keyboard.
iFixit has said that this is what was seen after dismantling the keyboard. Apple has officially said that the new MacBook Pro keyboard is quieter now and iFixit believes that the presence of the silicone membrane is the reason behind it.
This probable ‘quiet’ development may be due to the fact that Apple is serious about bringing about improvements in its devices without any publicity.
